


baby drew-nickerson

by ndnickerson



Category: Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Flirting, Meet-Cute, parenting a robot baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-11
Updated: 2014-11-11
Packaged: 2018-10-18 16:39:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10620894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ndnickerson/pseuds/ndnickerson
Summary: Nancy is unexpectedly paired with the newest student at River Heights High for the "parenting a robot baby" project.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from otpprompts:
> 
> Imagine your OTP in high school, when they get paired up for “the baby project” - the two of them have to look after a baby doll for a week as if they were a couple.
> 
> Originally posted at my Nancy Drew fic tumblr, nancydrewdiary.

Monday. Monday’s bad enough; Monday after lunch is worse.

It’s the first full week back after Christmas holidays, which is the cherry on top of the sundae of complete awful that has been her day. Bess has a nasty cold, so she’s out today. George is coming down with it too, so she was grumpy at lunch and ready to put her head down and fall asleep. Nancy has absolutely no reason at all to look forward to her home ec class, since Bess won’t be there to pass notes and shoot loaded glances at her.

When Nancy walks in, letting her backpack slip down her shoulders, she lets out a silent groan. The robotic babies are loaded up in their carriers on the countertop at the far side of the room. Ms. Partin smiles as she adjusts a floral headband on one of them. At least Ms. Partin doesn’t care about dividing the group up into boy-girl pairs; they don’t have the right ratio, anyway. And Nancy is sure that Bess will do an excellent job raising their robo-baby, even if he or she will likely be returned with a miniature manicure and pedicure, and maybe a fabulous new outfit.

Nancy takes her seat and pulls out her binder and a pen. Just before the bell rings, a guy walks in, a class schedule in his hand and a furrow in his brow. He’s tall, dark-haired, and his dark-eyed gaze sweeps the room before he takes the closest unoccupied seat.

Ms. Partin takes roll, saving her introduction of the guest for last. She scans the slip of paper he shows her, then smiles. “Class, this is Edmund—”

“Ned.” He interrupts, polite but firm. “Please.”

“ _Ned_ Nickerson. Here from…?”

“Uh, just outside St. Louis.”

“Very good.” Ms. Partin smiles as Ned goes back to his seat, and Nancy doesn’t glance in his direction; he’s seated on the next row, two seats back from her. “All right, class, it’s time for what you’ve all been waiting for! Time to welcome your new bundles of joy into the world. Now, remember…”

Ms. Partin goes over the rules for the project again while Nancy glances over at the robo-babies with a sigh. Since Bess isn’t feeling well, she likely won’t be up to caring for their “child.” And Nancy already has an essay and a report to work on, thanks to her other classes. The fake baby has to be monitored at all times, babysat, fed and changed and rocked…

“I know we’ve done some group work before, and I tried to make your groups similar… so Wendy, you’ll be working with Patrick…”

Nancy listens to Ms. Partin with half her attention as she assigns the babies to groups and the room is filled with murmuring and cooing. She’s ready to raise her hand and volunteer to take the baby she and Bess will be assigned when Ms. Partin looks over at her.

“And, Nancy… since Bess and Celia are both out today and I want this project to be equal, would you mind partnering up with Mr. Nickerson?”

Nancy and Ned glance at each other, and Nancy’s breathless for a second. He’s square jawed and he has impossibly dark eyelashes and he is definitely what Bess would call “deliciously hot.” “Uh—yeah, that’s okay,” Nancy manages to force out. “I—okay.”

“You two now have Galadriel. Just don’t give her any jewelry and you should be fine.” Ms. Partin grins to herself as she delivers their new “baby.”

Ned moves to the seat beside Nancy’s, and for a moment they’re both speechless, gazing at the molded plastic face and rubber-duck patterned onesie. “So I thought you’d at least buy me a drink first,” Ned finally chuckles.

Nancy glances over at him. “You? After this  _I’m_ going to deserve a milkshake and an order of onion rings at Lou’s,  _minimum._ ”

“Seems fair,” Ned returns. “I’m sure Ariel will love it.”

“Galadriel,” Nancy corrects him, then dissolves into laughter. “Really? I mean, that way we can decide who gets her when, and…”

“Yeah. Sounds good.”

After school Nancy waves to George, telling her she hopes she feels better, and heads over to Lou’s with the carrier in tow. The “baby” slept during Nancy’s last class period, but Nancy hears her starting to make little “waking-up” noises as she carries her inside.

Ned arrives a few minutes later, and Nancy waves to him; he smiles in relief, heading over to the table she managed to snag. “So how’s our little peanut?”

“Ready for a round of care,” Nancy sighs. “So I have a lot of work tonight; how much do you have?”

They settle on a schedule for the week. Ned has a different courseload than she does—he’s in the grade above hers, but needed to complete his home ec credit—and his homework sounds worse. They agree to swap every day during class, and meet on Saturday to trade off.

“So what’s your phone number?” Ned smiles when Nancy raises her eyebrows at him. “You know, in case I need to… talk about our custody schedule, or ask you about class…”

“Mmm-hmm.” Nancy folds her arms, a small smile curling her lips. “Likely story.”

“Okay, so maybe I just was hoping you could show me around.” Ned shrugs a little. “I don’t know anyone around here, and you… well, you know, I’d like to get to know the mother of my child a little.”

He takes advantage of her rocking the “baby” to steal one of her onion rings, and she bats at his hand, her heart skipping a beat when their skin touches. “Well, we’ll need a chaperone. You know, so we don’t get in trouble again.”

“Mmm. A little bit of trouble wouldn’t be so bad,” he murmurs, and then his eyes meet hers, and that fluttering in her stomach intensifies.

Bess is insanely jealous once she sees Ned for the first time. “You are the luckiest girl  _ever_ ,” she stage-whispers to Nancy. “I would  _kill_  for him to be my fake-baby daddy.”

At the end of the week, Nancy doesn’t know how much sleep she’s lost, how many diapers changed, how many cries hushed. And Ned calls her every night, offering to sing a lullaby to little “Allie,” as they’ve taken to calling her, or letting her hear the robot baby whine as he rocks her. They talk about class, about River Heights and his new neighborhood and their plans for their first real date. And even though she wants to be cautious, with him, she finds it’s almost impossible to play coy. She looks forward to their daily phone calls and class and conversation like nothing else.

On the following Monday, when it’s time to turn the baby in, Nancy can’t wait to give her up—but, on the other hand, it takes away her excuse to talk to Ned every day. They even took selfies together with the baby, and Bess dubbed those photos “practice for when you two have  _your own babies_ , you are  _so lucky._ ”

“Bye, Allie,” Ned says, patting the duck-patterned stocking cap. “It’s been fun.”

“And infuriating, and nerve-wracking, and sleep-depriving,” Nancy adds. “And those swimming lessons… well, we’ll have to try that again when you’re a little older, and maybe less a robot.”

Ned’s fingers brush hers, and they hold hands for a moment. “So we still on for this weekend?” he murmurs.

She nods, and when their gazes meet neither one of them can help grinning. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she replies.


End file.
